Mayor bans villagers from ‘contracting illnesses requiring medical care’ in response to doctor shortages

Antonio Torchia's decree also includes a demand for residents not to engage in behaviours that may be harmful and to avoid domestic accidents.
Antonio Torchia, mayor of Belcastro in Calabria, Italy. Photo: Facebook.

Forget doctors, forget hospitals, forget wonder drugs and say goodbye to those interminable debates about where the money is coming from to fund it all.

The mayor of a small Italian village has come up with a fix — he has issued a decree banning its 1200 inhabitants from “contracting any illness that may require emergency medical assistance”.